Yong's Special
“How else can he catch that many fish?” anglers would whisper over a beer at the Sportsman’s Inn. “It’s just not natural.”
I’ve fished with Andy Kim and can tell you that he doesn’t do anything wrong. It’s just the opposite. He does everything right, and that’s why he catches so many trout. His series of midge patterns—every one called “Yong” after his real Korean name—covers every subsurface stage of the midge life cycle, and he fishes them like a man possessed.
Using these flies, he’s like a vacuum cleaner when he gets in the river, sucking trout up like dust bunnies and drawing plenty of stares in the process. I’ve stood on the San Juan numerous times and seen him hook a dozen or more fish for every one fish the rest of the crowd could manage.
It’s no small wonder he has enemies. When he catches a fish, he cries, “That’s another one on the Yong Special” and sells the flies for $22 a dozen from his web site. When he guides, he guarantees you hook 24 fish in a day, or you don’t pay. Obviously he has a lot of faith in his flies.
For years his flies have been a closely guarded secret. Kim lived in a camper on the San Juan or Green Rivers and fished 300 days a year or more. Selling his flies was his only income.
These days, however, Kim has a guide license for the San Juan River and doesn’t count on his flies to put food on the table. Word is getting around, and his calendar is often full. I guess that’s part of the reason he decided to share his fly recipes with me. The other reason is that he genuinely loves to help people catch more fish. I can’t promise you’ll ever catch as many fish on the San Juan as Andy Yong, but I can promise these flies will help you catch more fish where there are heavy midge populations across the United States. On western waters such as the South Platte, the Frying Pan, and the Green River, these midge imitations are deadly.
Kim developed his flies after years of study and observation on the South Platte River. They work well simply because they look so much like the real thing. Too many midge imitations, with fancy wings, shiny beads, and wire ribbing, are designed to catch fisherman. “Trout don’t care about all that,” says Kim. “That’s for fishermen.”
The key to his flies is the way he manipulates the thread to get the body profile and shape he desires. Many midge imitations have a wire rib that is supposed to create the illusion of the insect’s segmented body, but for skeptical trout, it looks unconvincing. Kim uses just thread for the body of his flies, laying the thread flat for the underbody, and twisting the thread to create a perfectly segmented and realistic midge body.
The secret to Kim’s flies is not in the materials (it’s just thread after all) but in how the materials are applied. Because these flies are so small, the thread must be the right diameter for the hook shank and the underbody has to be wound precisely. Abnormal bumps or unnatural tapers will ruin the pattern’s effectiveness. Study the real insects closely, and you will see the science behind Kim’s simple flies.
If catching more fish isn’t reason enough to try a new fly pattern, consider the simplicity of these flies. Even a beginning tier can produce a dozen or more an hour. If you are fast with a bobbin, it’s not impossible to tie one fly in 60 seconds. Each fly will cost only a little more than the price of the hook, about $.16 per fly depending on what hook you choose.
Yong Blood
This fly was developed to imitate the red midge larvae found in many fertile tailwater fisheries. Hold one of these in your hand next to the real thing, and you’ll be amazed at the likeness. This fly should be fished deep, early and late in the day when midge pupae are not hatching. In a two-fly rig, put this one on the bottom, about 12 inches below the top fly. Midge larvae also come in many other colors. Try this fly in olive, brown, gray, and cream colors.
Yong Special
The Yong Special was developed more than a decade ago to catch the tough trout of the South Platte River. When Kim began to fish the San Juan, he found this fly perfectly matched the most important midge species on that river, and he varied the colors to match different midge hatches through the season.
I’ve fished this fly alongside many other popular midge imitations and can say it’s by far the best pupa imitation I’ve ever used. On the San Juan and elsewhere, you can have success with it 365 days a year.
For many years, people have speculated what type of thread Kim uses to tie his fly, and people have tried everything from imported silk to rod-wrapping thread to duplicate his fly. Kim first tied this fly with thread imported from Korea, but his supply soon ran out, and he now uses Coats and Clark sewing thread for an almost identical effect. You can buy Coats and Clark in a variety of colors at any fabric store.
The two most effective colors for this fly are olive/brown and cream, but red, olive, and even bright Kelly green can be effective depending on local hatches. In the following recipe, it’s important that you follow the steps exactly. Where you attach the thread and how you trim your tag end will affect the taper of the fly. It may seem like a small thing, but the fly shape and size are critical elements. Kim rarely uses flies as large as #20 on the San Juan. Most of his Yong Specials are #24 or smaller.
Yong Flasher
The Yong Flasher is more effective than the Yong Special when midge pupae are emerging near the surface. Many species ride a small air bubble to the surface that produces a glitter or flash trout seem to key on. When trout are eating emerging midge pupae, they are usually in the top 1/3 of the water column, so you should fish this fly just under the surface with little or no weight.
Rick Takahashi teaches art and lives in Ft. Collins, CO.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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